


Your Voice is Your Life

by Llama1412



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s01e05 Bottled Appetites, Gen, Geraskier is only implied, Implied Relationships, Introspection, because they're always together in my writing, same with Yennefer/Geralt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22903282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llama1412/pseuds/Llama1412
Summary: “Your voice is your life.” His old teacher used to tell him. Jaskier largely disagreed, but then a djinn steals his voice.Bottled Appetites from Jaskier's point of view
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	Your Voice is Your Life

“Your voice is your life.” His old teacher used to tell him, “As a singer, your worth is what your voice can bring you. Never forget - the world is cruel. If you cannot give people what they want, you mean nothing to them.”

Now, Jaskier wasn’t one for a pessimistic outlook on life, but he could be a realist. Traveling with a Witcher’s protection, he didn’t have to be very often - he could let out his sunny disposition to his desire, trusting that Geralt would keep an eye on any potential threats.

But they didn’t always travel together, and having to look after your own skin meant learning to be realistic. Which is to say - usually, when he can’t block the thought from his head with meaningless chatter, he likes to take a spiteful approach to his dour old teacher’s advice: deliberately taking up a woodwind instrument and performing without song for an entire year, perfecting his non-musical finger talents to earn his keep even without a performance, that kind of thing. 

But he still thought about it a lot. And in that split second on the riverside when he took a gasping breath and was barely able to push Geralt’s name out of his throat, all he can hear is that clear, piercing voice saying,  _ your voice is your life. Without it, you are nothing. _

The moments after that pass in a haze, interspersed with brief minutes of clarity. He thinks he should try to pay more attention, but it hurts to breathe and he can’t talk and his voice rasps and  _ he can’t talk _ , and every time his breath starts coming too short and his panic crests, a warm hand squeezes his leg and a deep voice tells him to match their breathing. And he feels - not safe, he can never be safe without his voice and it  _ hurts _ . But… Geralt is  _ there _ . And he’s always known he is safe if Geralt is near. 

And then Roach is stopping and Geralt pulls him down and tosses him over his shoulder, and things go hazy again. And he may have started dreaming at some point, because there are a lot of really naked, really pretty people around, and suddenly there is a tit in his face, but he also still hurts? And usually his dreams like this are much more pleasant. But then Geralt’s there again, rough hands ever so gentle as he is picked up again and then laid down on something soft, and he falls asleep for real.

\--

Now, waking up in a soft bed without a clear memory of how he got there is not as an uncommon experience for Jaskier as it probably should be. But it’s also usually accompanied by a warm body curled around him, and sadly, that seems to be lacking. He opens his eyes, and turns out there is a warm body nearby! But he was also mostly dressed, and his chemise was stained with something he was uncomfortably sure was blood, and this is not how mornings like this should go. 

“Not to be untoward or anything,” he chuckles weakly, only belatedly remembering to be grateful to hear his own voice. “But di-did we, you know, do the, uh - oooooh no, no definitely did  _ not _ butter that biscuit.” He scrambled across the bed away from the frankly terrifyingly gorgeous – or gorgeously terrifying? – woman. 

He’d honestly like to forget everything that happened after that, including the pointed kiss of a knife against his throat accompanied by the tight grip of fingers around his cock, and the moment of sheer terror when the building crumbled with Geralt and that crazy witch inside.

But afterwards, as he savors the sound of his voice and belts out chords and lyrics to his heart’s content, he can’t stop thinking about it. It was Geralt’s wish that had stolen his voice, and he was well aware that under different circumstances, the Witcher would glory in the rare silence. But...Geralt had been there. He’d fixed Jaskier’s voice and the pain and then stupidly decided to run after the crazy witch - the same crazy witch who had saved his voice and his life. 

_ Your voice is your life. Your worth is what your voice can bring you. _

But he’d been voiceless, breathless, and Geralt hadn’t left him. It was Geralt’s fault, but he’d fixed it, and he even refrained from demanding Jaskier stop singing for a full three days!

Of course it would be the Witcher, who many thought incapable of feeling, that proved the miserable old teacher wrong. 


End file.
